Sondra Radvanovsky News

Opera Philadelphia looks forward to launching the 2016-17 season with the world premiere of a new company co-commission, Breaking the Waves (Sep 22-Oct 1).

The Canadian Opera Company officially starts it's performance season with the following operas and free concert series in October!

Searing drama and epic lyricism open the Canadian Opera Company's 2016/2017 season with a new production of Bellini's Norma. 

Roberto Devereux comes to THIRTEEN'S Great Performances at the Met Sunday, August 28 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the opera on Sunday, September 4 at 12:30 p.m.)

When South African soprano Elza van den Heever made her debut at the Met, as Elizabeth I in Donizetti's MARIA STUARDA, it was something that was totally memorable in every way--not only for her intelligent and gorgeous bel canto singing but for the lurching gait that helped show her character as unbalanced. What does she have in mind for her role debut as Leonore, in Beethoven's FIDELIO, at the Caramoor Festival?

Opera Philadelphia looks forward to launching the 2016-17 season with the world premiere of a new company co-commission, Breaking the Waves (Sep 22-Oct 1).

Although the solstice doesn't officially appear for another week or so, the summer opera clock is already ticking. There's a plethora of performances going on all over New York City, in addition to interesting, entertaining and fascinating productions that are just a hop, skip and jump away. Among them: Lincoln Center's Lincoln Center Festival and Mostly Mozart and On Site Opera's West Village venue, to the more bucolic realms of Bard SummerScape in Dutchess County (NY) for Mascagni and Caramoor in Katonah (NY) for Rossini and Beethoven.

Due to Anna Netrebko's recent decision not to add the title role in Bellini's Norma to her repertory, the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden-where she was scheduled to debut the role-as well as the Vienna State Opera and Dallas Opera have announced several related cast changes.

Mario Zeffiri will sing the title role in this evening's performance of Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, replacing Matthew Polenzani, who is ill.

“The Tudor Trilogy” --putting together Donizetti's ANNA BOLENA, MARIA STUARDA and ROBERTO DEVEREUX--was fabricated to light Beverly Sills' fire as “America's Queen of Opera” at the old New York City Opera. This season, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was charged with bringing the trio of operas to the Met for the first time and, in completing this hat trick, she proved herself opera royalty indeed.

With the historic New York premiere of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD just days away, The Apollo Theater and Opera Philadelphia today announced a multi-year partnership that will continue the staging of contemporary operas at the Apollo in future seasons. The next co-production between the two institutions will be the New York premiere of We Shall Not Be Moved, set for the fall of 2017.

With the historic New York premiere of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD just days away, The Apollo Theater and Opera Philadelphia today announced a multi-year partnership that will continue the staging of contemporary operas at the Apollo in future seasons. The next co-production between the two institutions will be the New York premiere of WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED, set for the fall of 2017.

San Francisco Opera today announced plans to return to KQED 9 for the sixth season of spectacular opera and musical theater works featuring a roster of internationally renowned singers, conductors, directors and designers, all recorded live in high-definition from the War Memorial Opera House.

Tenor Matthew Polenzani--he of the refined singing, elegant deportment and serious nature--is having a great season at the Met, with major roles in a pair of new productions. First, he was Nadir, whose love for the priestess Leila (Diana Damrau) tempts her to give up her vows in Bizet's LES PECHEURS DE PERLES (THE PEARL FISHERS). Now he's working his mojo on no less than Elisabetta (Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen of England), in the new production of Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX at the Met, premiering March 24.

?After a months-long series of competitions at the district, regional, and national levels, a panel of expert judges named five young singers as the winners of the nation's most prestigious vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Each winner receives a $15,000 cash prize and the prestige and exposure that come with winning the competition that launched the careers of many of opera's biggest stars.

Sondra Radvanovsky completes her season-long quest to sing the leading roles in all three operas in Donizetti's Tudor queens trilogy on March 24, when she stars as Queen Elizabeth I in the Met premiere of Roberto Devereux. Radvanovsky gave acclaimed performances as Anne Boleyn in Anna Bolena and Mary, Queen of Scots in Maria Stuarda earlier this season. Her performances in Roberto Devereux will make her the first singer since Beverly Sills in the 1970s to perform all three roles in a single New York season.

Following yesterday's highly competitive semi-final competition, nine young singers will advance to the final phase of the Metropolitan Opera's 2016 National Council Auditions, America's most prestigious vocal competition. The selected finalists, chosen by a panel of experts from the classical music industry, will compete on the Met stage on Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m. The winners will receive individual cash prizes of $15,000 and the prestigious-and potentially career-launching-title of National Council Auditions Winner. The Grand Finals Concert will feature Antony Walker conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as each finalist performs two arias.

San Francisco Opera today announced plans to return to KQED 9 for the sixth season of spectacular opera and musical theater works featuring a roster of internationally renowned singers, conductors, directors and designers, all recorded live in high-definition from the War Memorial Opera House.

The winners of the 45th annual George London Foundation Awards Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers were announced at the conclusion of the competition's final round this evening, which took place in a front of an audience at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. 

The Met's new production of Puccini's MANON LESCAUT opens February 12 with Kristine Opolais as the seductive, tragic heroine and Roberto Alagna in a role debut as her ardent lover, the Chevalier des Grieux.